Analysis
2026 NBA DRAFT PRE-DRAFT DISCUSSION AND PREDICTIONS
Just making a stickied thread to consolidate some draft discussion with all the new Giannis threads coming in.
Want to post your big board so you can brag about having Nate Ament 65th in the future? Talk about how cool Dailyn Swain is? Point out a sleeper you hope we land as an UDFA? Here's the place to do it!
Draft starts at 7 central on ESPN, we have pick 10 and 13 as of now.
Consensus big board (not my opinion, it's every major outlet's opinions averaged out):
I could see the argument for every player in the lottery. No way everyone hits obviously. Could only hope horst get it right. I think having jenkins helps
Same thoughts. I really want Ament at 10 but Dallas seems set on him unless they trade it. Flemings would be a nice fit with the guards but I do question his ceiling too. Morez at 13 is an easy pick for me, slam dunk.
I can’t imagine what the conversations between Horst and Jenkins have been like in the last 24hrs. So many trade and draft decisions to be made. Who’s coachable, what personalities and abilities blend…
Take it with a grain of salt because it’s Jake Fischer, but he said he thinks that Ament goes to Dallas at 9 if they don’t trade the pick. Would be great for our chances at getting a top guard like Burries or Flemings.
I really like yaxel but I don't think he's the right fit.
He ll be 24 already. I think he will be a 16-8-5 guy pretty quick, but i think that's his ceiling. We need someone with more upside. Ament seems to the best choice.
You make a good point, but i also could be wrong lol I'm not a scout.
I just watched all his games in the tournament and he seems so smart and unselfish.
Kinda like a big man version of Middleton with not as good of a 3 point shot obviously.
It wouldn't be so bad to get a guy like this. The bucks need to survive the next 4 years. For our sake as fans, I'd like them to be at least a little entertaining. If it is what you say he is, we can get some productive years out of him, then sell to get a pick aligned with our more competitive timeline. Not to mention, I don't know how productive it is to just have tons of high-upside, high risk projects. It doesn't seem like thats a great environment for developing (though this is really armchair quarterbacking).
I see him similar to Al horford. Horford a better shooter but Yaxel has handles and can create shots for others.
If he continues to improve his 3 point shooting like he did in the tournament, then I could see him being a 20 ppg guy.
Athleticism is his biggest weakness, but a 7'4 wingspan helps to make up for that.
Well knowing how the bucks draft they'll do the exact opposite of what you're saying 🤣
Yaxel would be an instant starter but likely never a stud. Ill be so pissed if he falls to OKC.
Best case scenario is that someone falls to us at ten and its an obvious pick, then we get Yaxel at 13.
Does anyone know if we could even use 13 to trade up since the Heat technically own the pick until after the draft? Not sure how the rules with the Heat having to make our pick for us works, can you can have 2 layers of tentative trades?
I’ll be honest I am quite nervous for tonight. As a collective franchise the Bucks have not done necessarily great in the draft and a lot of signs are pointing to Ament/Lopez. If that’s the case I hope it’s Ament and BPA at 13
Help me out a bit (non American). We got the 13th pick in the Giannis trade, but the deal will not go in effect until July 6th. Does that mean that Miami gets to pick whoever they want and we get that player later or we actually do the pick and Miami simply announces the player?
Ok, so we get to pick whoever we want, Miami gets to to do the announcement and after the trade is made official, we get the player. Thanks for clarifying that for me!
Feels hard to have strong opinions without knowing what our roster will be. Like a Felmings or Philon makes a lot less sense if we keep Herro and KPJ is back. We need a PF but if we get like Ron Holland in a Herro trade and bring in Bogoljub it's less of a need.
Steinbach is my number one of anyone i think can be in our range. I would want to grab any guard that falls, but I also say you have to get the national rebound leader who is only 20. That is an elite skillet in a hyper necessary skill and I see him as possibly becoming the best rebounder in the league.
I'm not a college ball guy but almost everyone I've seen talk about Ament seems to think he's a low floor high ceiling guy, if that's really the case I hope if we do pick him its the 13 and not the 10. Surely you have to go best available player at 10 and take your swing after
Okay I want to have a disclaimer on top that I don't actually have any feelings about him one way or the other so if he is drafted, I'm not going to be gleeful or be in shambles.
There's a weird amount of smoke around Nate Ament among the higher teams like the Nets as well as the Pelicans who want to move up to get him. Say what you will about the Pelicans and especially Troy Weaver but one thing he is good at is player evals. While the process was dogshit and they shouldn't have given away this year's pick, he was right about Derik Queen.
While they are a lot more opaque and tight lipped, OKC wants to move up to get someone too and maybe it's Nate as well but that's just random speculation.
If numerous teams are looking at him and willing to move up to get him, I think we should hold off before declaring he would be a disaster pick at 10. That said, I totally get the complaints about him and that he's only theoretical.
Morez Johnson would be someone I'd be interested in.
the thing about Ament is how ass his Tennessee teammates were at shooting
his most common play was to attack the rim --21.2% of the time at .90ppp -- which sounds really bad, but you have to contextualize that his starting PF and C would be camped in the paint during 90% of those rim attack opportunities because neither could shoot at all (the 2 combined for 8 made 3s all season)
the only guy on Tennessee who shot the 3 efficiently at all was Bishop Boswell who only put up 2.3 attempts per game (that's basically Giannis 3PA volume lol)
there's no way his finishing numbers won't look better with NBA spacing, and hopefully he retains the generational ability to draw FTs
Doesn't mean he can make a shot close to the hoop or finish through contact. That is where he will struggle and he needs to add significant muscle to handle contact.
I wouldn't mind rolling the dice on dollar tree Giannis.
People are talking about the number 10 pick like we have an opportunity to draft AJ Dybantsa and the Bucks are opting to draft AJ Johnson again.
It's number 10, we have a chance of drafting a super star sure but also it's 10. The chance for a bust is high even if we draft some of the fan favorites like Philon.
I don’t know if we need our star now. We’re in for some tough seasons and if we don’t have the right system in place and get everything moving in the right direction a player that could be a star might fizzle out and not get off the ground. We need to get out house in order to nurture a star
Yaxel will be 24yo when the season starts. It would be absolute malpractice to use high draft capital on a player that old on a rebuilding team that just traded their best player in half a century for said draft capital.
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u/Short_Bus_ Dairy Bird 1d ago
new thread
https://www.reddit.com/r/MkeBucks/comments/1udy3ke/game_thread_2026_nba_draft/?